Henching
by pepperamac
Summary: Jane is a struggling mystery author who befriends a guy named Dan who's life ambition is to be a criminal in Gotham City. When she's desperate to get out of town and falls in with her bestie's new crowd, who else could be there to show her as good of a time but the Riddler? RiddlerXOC With some adventure, some crime, some fluff and some mayhem. Review and I'll be eternally grateful
1. Rainy Monday

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Jane skipped up the stairs leading to Reynolds public library, trying hopelessly to stay out of the rain. She got to the giant Victorian double doors and hurled herself inside. Once safe from the dastardly precipitation, she leaned back against the stained glass to catch her breath.

It was dreary outside, worse than dreary, it was downright depressing weather. Occasional sleet, and continual rain, the clouds were all one shade of putrid gray… the grass, only just now withering from the cold, couldn't decide if it was still winter, or we were about to plunge into Spring.

These February months were always the worst weather.

As a mystery author, Jane Cade wasn't against the occasional dismal day, but Glynn, Massachusetts, her place of residence, seemed to be this way about 60% of the year. Whether it was the fact that she didn't know many people, or that she was new in town (the correlation was not lost on her) that was contributing to her dark mood, or just the fact that the latest book she was writing had gone stagnant, it only made the weather that much harder to bear.

And so, in a last ditch effort to resurrect her novel she had headed to the town's public library to see what she could dig up in the way of a muse or, really, even the atmosphere. Maybe that could help her move on past the unknown blockage she was facing.

As she was pursuing the aisles, trying to find the mystery section, she noticed a suspicious looking character doing much the same thing. She kept a discerning eye on him until he ducked into the Crime section. Unable to resist, and noticing that, as chance would have it, the mystery aisle was right on the other side, Jane mirrored his movements right into the mystery aisle. She could see the horizontals of him through the book racks. He was definitely on a mission, as he was browsing alphabetically. She decided to keep one eye on him as she tried to find a book that would meet her own requirements as well. After all, how would she look if she was following him around the library with no book? She noticed he had almost reached the end of his row and, fearing she'd lose him, she grabbed the first book she saw and made to leave her own aisle.

As she rounded the corner, she happened a glance down at the book she had chosen, and noticed it was a collection of Arthur Conan Doyle's, Sherlock Holmes. Before she had a chance to register the coincidence, she collided with a solid moving mass that sent her pitching to the ground.

Dan's POV

It really was disappointing how little the town library offered in the way of Crime-related works. There seemed to be no end of the Punishment segment, but how to actually get into crime was apparently something no one wrote about. Of course, maybe that had something to do with the fact that many unsuccessful criminals were considered illiterate, or publishers were afraid to put the successful ones on the market for fear of copycats. But then there was also the overall knowledge of Glynn's close proximity to Gotham City in New York. It was only a quick few hours drive and they could join the ranks of the criminally insane.

The latter was Dan's absolute and unequivocal goal.

Ever since he was a young boy he had wanted to take part in a heist; a kidnapping, a robbery, a burglary, a ransom, a hunt, a caper, whatever name you could think of he wanted to play an integral role in it. The excitement, the notoriety… what could be better? To match your wits against the law… it was a romantic perspective maybe, but Dan had always be an all or nothing kind of guy.

However, at the moment, Dan was a fed up kind of guy. He couldn't find what he was looking for. Perhaps it would be better if he just went to Gotham? Perhaps… but as much as he was loathe to admit it, going into that kind of situation with no knowledge of what he was getting into frightened him. Not to mention, unless he did his homework and knew how to approach these rather unique set of criminals, he would end up as just another low life bottom feeding henchman. And that just wouldn't do.

It was becoming clear he wasn't going to get his answers from this establishment. Dan turned on his heel, aiming to take a short jaunt down the mystery aisle before he left, as it was right next to the crime aisle. Perhaps he could at least take a note out of something Stephen King-esque, the Master of Horror.

As he was seething his way into the mystery aisle however, he ran headfirst into a small, brunette ball of fury and haste, apparently on her way out of the aisle.

He had seen her on the way in, probably a lot of the guys in the library had, but sprawled out on the floor she was much more detailed. She was small, Dan wouldn't have guessed more than 5 feet, and she had a thick mane of hair that, upon closer inspection wasn't brown at all, but a deep red with a black undertone that caught the light in a way that he liked very much. She had glasses, though now they were thrown askew and she has hastily trying to correct them as she stumbled out an embarrassed apology. Dan offered her his hand to help her up.

It took Jane just a moment of being on the floor to realize she had collided with the man she had been stalking. Wow. Mystery mistake numero uno, no doubt. _Cover!_ Her subconscious screamed at then, _APOLOGIZE YOU NIT!_

"I'm so sorry!" She choked out, fixing her glasses. "Oh my God, I never even saw you! Are you okay?" She accepted his proffered hand and pulled herself to her feet, raising her eyes to his. His eyes were very blue and very clear. It was like looking into a mirror. A mirror that was trying very hard not to laugh at her.

"I'm fine," he assured her. "I'm also Dan. Pleasure to meet you miss…"

"Cade! But please call me Jane because that's my first name. Jane." _Wow. You're cool._ She sneered at herself.

This time Dan couldn't hold the smile back and she marveled at the way it went all the way to his eyes. She took a moment to really study him, despite her embarrassment. He wasn't tall, maybe only a few inches taller than herself. He had a shock of blonde hair, so light it was nearly white, that was haphazardly parted in the middle and came down a little over his ears. The guy was a little on the paler side. The way his mouth relaxed gave him a natural smile, and he seemed to have an easy way about him, but the thing that got her were those eyes. He could smile all he wanted, but there was something about those eyes that made her wonder if she shouldn't watch her step. Whether it was a level of passion she was uncomfortable with, or just the way they looked like they were seeing right through her… but still… they were the most beautiful color….

"Come to dinner with me, Jane," he uttered earnestly.

It took her a minute to register what he said. How sudden! If only she had known the way to get asked on a date was to hurtle headlong into someone!"But…we just met."_ Lame_. She knew it. The look in his eyes told her he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"The perfect time to get to know each other then. Look. I'm not generally this forward, but you're a pretty girl and I haven't had a date in a long time. Please? We can go anywhere you want to go."

Jane searched his eyes for an answer. It had been a long time since she went out as well. Easily a year, maybe more. The last memorable date she had been on was in high school, nearly five years ago now.

_Why not go?_ Her subconscious asked her. _Because you just met him!_ Jane had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. _Oh, Reason. Glad you could join the party._ While Jane was busy mediating her overly crowded mind at the moment, and her subconscious and reason were glaring hateful daggers at one another, Dan was shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"Er… did you already have plans tonight?"

It was obvious in his hesitancy how awkward Jane was making this, so she decided to throw caution to the winds and take him up on his offer. "Sure, how's eight?" She hastily scribbled her address down on a piece of paper and handed it to him before she could think about it too much.

Dan took the paper and smiled. "Eight is great."

**AN: Okay, so I'm not trying to be a terrible person with Ye Olden Tyme Author's Note, but I wanted to mention that this story marks a lot of firsts for me, and all I ask is a patient audience. I lead an incredibly busy life, so bear with me and I'll finish what I start. Also, I realize this may be a very dismal chapter for those of you who were expecting a Riddler right off the rip. It's going to take a few chapters for him to come into play, but I guarantee if you stick around, the wait will be worth it. Okay. Enough from me! Enjoy the next chapter!**


	2. Take Me Out

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The 'restaurant' Dan chose to take her to was an absolute dive of a place. So much so that Jane, after being an unhealthy combination of thoroughly amused and justifiably disgusted, chose to keep her jacket on so that the skin above her strapless top wouldn't touch the back of the grease-covered chair.

Right when Jane had gotten home (after a torrential downpour happened to occur at the exact moment that she stepped outside) she had thrown herself into the shower. As was her habit ever since she was a little girl, Jane began mentally calculating the time it would take her to do all the things she needed to do before Dan arrived.

_Okay, it's six o'clock now. I can take a 20 minute shower, take about 30 minutes to dry me and my hair…make up, that's another 10 minutes…so when all is said and done that leaves me an hour to find something to wear and clean the place up a bit._

Dan had shown up at ten past eight, which had immediately caused Jane to second guess her decision to go out on this date in the first place. Punctuality was very important to her and she couldn't abide lateness in herself or in other people.

Dan had redeemed himself only a little when she opened the door to find him standing there with a bouquet of lilies for her. Then, after a short car ride in something that was so old and rusted Jane could only _assume_ it was a Toyota, they arrived at some restaurant called Johnnie's; a place which looked like a respectable enough joint from the outside but upon entry should have been immediately condemned.

The roof looked like it was hanging on by a thread and the slightest breeze would send it caving in. It was too dimly lit to properly make out the worn red carpet that stretched wall to wall across the entire floor, but Jane was willing to bet it was stained beyond belief. In fact, she would have put good money on that fact that if she had a swab kit right at that exact moment, and she had taken a sample of the carpet for lab testing, she would find not just traces but gratuitous amounts of blood, alcohol, sweat, tobacco… probably semen…

They were following a waitress (who seemed to be having just the kind of day Jane was having) to a corner booth away from the other customers. Jane hovered above the seat as she slid into the booth, trying very hard not to make contact with any of the cracked material until she had to sit down. "So…" she started trying not to show her disgust at the slightly hardened slimy thing that was stuck to the middle of the table, "Do you come here often?"

Of course, she meant it as a joke. What kind of person would come here often? _Probably someone who had already contracted all the STD's known to man_, her subconscious fired back at her. She figured Dan had probably heard about Johnnie's from a friend (not a very good friend albeit) or had driven past it and thought it was somewhere much more…date-esque. He, however, surprised her with his enthusiastic reply.

"Yeah! All the time. I think the atmosphere is great!" From the look on his face and the way he lit up at the mention of the atmosphere, Jane wondered momentarily if perhaps he was Johnnie himself, trying to get butts in the seats by going around inviting unsuspecting women to his hole-in-the-wall shamble-shack and roofie-ing them before dragging them to the back room and beating them to death.

Of course, the reasonable part of her timidly brought to light the fact that if he were trying to get 'butts in the seats' he probably wouldn't be killing anyone.

Jane looked at him sideways. She thought the atmosphere was toxic at best. However, Dan looked completely serious. Letting that go, Jane moved on to another topic. "So, what do you do for a living, Dan?" Normal people on dates ask that, right? _Yeah, sure. Normal people also visualize the guy they're out on a date with putting roofies in their drinks and murdering them in cold blood_, her mind spat venomously back at her.

Oblivious to Jane's inner turmoil, her companion smiled into his drink as he took a slurp of something the wait staff had incorrectly labeled as champagne. "Well… I'm currently.. In between jobs." Noting Jane's skeptical glance, he hurriedly expounded. "I used to work for data entry. It was boring… tedious. My boss was a jerk. I don't know… it just wasn't me. I'm not really too much of an 'office' guy" he accentuated his statement with air quotes around 'office'. "So I'm trying to branch off into something a little more… exploratory."

It was a loaded answer, but then again, Jane couldn't really complain. She had plenty of those herself and, after all, she had asked him a loaded question. But before she could ask him to go more into depth about his future plans, he was asking her the same.

"What about you? What do you do for a living?"

"I write mystery novels. Well… I try to write mystery novels. I've done a couple, but nothing really stuck. I don't think I've really found my niche yet." It was the standard excuse she gave everyone when they asked if she had written anything they had read. She hadn't found her niche yet. She would pump out something heart wrenching, so glorified, so very soul numbing one day. Just as soon as she found her niche.

The rest of the meal passed in semi-awkward silence, neither one of them really landing on anything interesting to talk about. Jane was always more than embarrassed about her lack of career and, to be honest, she wasn't all that into Dan anyway. I mean, yeah the guy had looks going for him but that was pretty much it in her opinion. He was late, jobless, boring, drove a piece of shit car, had terrible table manners, and no idea what taking a girl out on a date entailed. All in all, it was pretty much the slowest 45 minutes Jane could ever remember having to endure.

After dinner, Dan asked Jane if she wouldn't mind splitting the bill; a deed which she was more than happy to do, regardless of the fact that it is totally un-date-like. One of the last things she wanted right now was to be indebted to him.

_It's staring to get chilly again_, Jane noted with dismay as they stepped outside. She pulled her coat tighter around herself and tucked her chin down into the fleece-lined collar of her pea coat. She spotted Dan's car right off. It wasn't particularly original, but she blamed her instant sighting on the promised relief of being out of his company as soon as humanly possible.

_Now, hold on_, her subconscious glared at her. _Was it really that bad?_ Jane thought about that for a moment, mentally tallying all the pros and cons of the night. She had been knocked to the ground by someone she was curiously stalking, asked to dinner, been picked up late, was taken to the shabbiest place she had ever set foot (not to mention eaten food) in, and was now being forced to ride home with the same person who took her on said date in a vehicle that she would probably need a tetanus shot to forget.

On the other hand, there hadn't been anything particularly hateful about Dan himself. In fact, that guy seemed pretty solid. She liked that he seemed to be of a similar mind to her (aside from the taste in eating venues) and he did seem like he meant well… No, the night could have ended up worse.

Be that as it may, the ride home was mostly tinged with a heavy silence. A few times Jane tried to think of something to say, and she imagine Dan was doing that same if only to alleviate this awkward tension between them.

When they rolled up to Jane's apartment, she was out of the car before it came to a complete stop and bounding down the walkway toward her front door with Dan quickly at her heels. He caught up with her as she stopped to unlock the door. "Was it that bad?" He asked her laughing, and she thought she could hear slight hurt behind his chuckle.

Jane looked up at him and searched his eyes. "No. It wasn't really that bad." The two stared at one another for what seemed like forever before Dan sheepishly turned his face away.

"I think this is the part where I get to kiss you goodnight."

Jane smiled softly and put her hand on Dan's crossed arms. "I'm sorry, Dan it… it doesn't feel like it's there."

Far from seeming put out with her admission, Jane thought she saw Dan visibly relax. "Oh thank God, you feel it, too! Yeah… I'm sorry I just…I'm not everybody's cup of tea I suppose."

Jane shook her head and smiled at him. "Maybe not, and I don't think I'll ever have those feelings about you, but I think we could be really great friends."

Dan nodded enthusiastically. "That sounds like a wonderful idea." He leaned in and grabbed her in a crushing bear hug. "I'll see you around, Jane." He quickly pulled back and fished around in his pocket for a moment. "Oh, hold on. I'll give you my number. Maybe we can hang out at the library sometime. Do some mutual research."

"Sure, I'd like that." And she watched him write his number down on a scrap of paper and hand it over.

"Here you go. Call me if you ever need anything." He smiled at her lopsidedly and turned back towards his car. Jane watched him go and, as he was sliding behind the wheel of his beater, allowed herself a final parting acknowledgement.

"Have a good night, Dan."


	3. We Gotta Get Out of This Place

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::::: 3 Months Later :::::

It had been months since that first night with Dan and, while Jane had been initially cautious in their friendship, it was difficult to keep someone with such a vivacious personality such as Dan at arm's length.

There were days on end where she threw herself into the new novel she was writing. She wouldn't sleep, wouldn't shower, and would barely eat. It usually meant she was onto something. Jane had found her ever-elusive muse and it was showering down on her. So rare was this occasion (as much as she loved writing, it never came very easy for her) that when it occurred, no one would hear from her until she had either expunged all the information she possibly could out of herself and onto the paper or the mood had passed. Because of this, Jane had lost many fair-weather friends over the years, and she would have been one among many to assume that the same would hold true for Dan.

However, Dan had weathered four of these cycles with ease. The first one, he had been worried sick and called repeatedly for the entire four days that Jane was absent. Having turned her phone off, she had been completely unaware of this until he had shown up on her doorstep on the fourth day beating on her door demanding she answer it. The second time, he had been forewarned as Jane alerted him that 'one of those feelings' was coming on. He had left her alone in silence and, when she had finally emerged, welcomed her back to the land of the living by taking her out to dinner followed by a quiet movie night. The third and fourth times had been the same way, leaving Dan excited over having found something that really worked as a good transition for her to shift from the overdrive of creativity to the coast of natural life.

All things considered, Jane thought herself very lucky (and completely surprised) to have found a friend like Dan in the manner that she had. Time and time again she had been faced with the difficult loneliness that accompanies many writers. She blamed it almost entirely on the muse factor and the vicarious disappearances, but there was a small part of it she blamed herself for. By being an author, and by being as imaginative as she considered herself to be, she wondered if maybe some part of her brain rejected the normalcy or intimacy of a close friendship or relationship, choosing instead to remind her subconscious that there was something better out there if she would just wait for it. Having wondered this about herself, Jane also wondered if that didn't trigger herself to inadvertently sabotage the relationship by disappearing more often than was completely necessary.

Yet, in spite of whatever faults Jane had, or whatever she either did or didn't do to push Dan away, he had remained there for her.

Jane was just thinking these thoughts as she skipped lightly up the remaining two stairs to Dan's apartment and ducked under the small canopy out of the rain to search for her keys. Before she could get them out of her purse, the door buzzed and swung open for her. She looked up at his window (lucky guy, got a great view of the alley) and saw him upstairs waving her in. Waving back quickly, Jane headed inside and up the two flights of stairs towards her friends domicile.

She didn't even have to knock before Dan answered the door barefoot, in ripped jeans, and a ratty bathrobe slung over a plain white tee shirt.

"Oh hey! Ah wasn' 'specting you s'early," he slurred around a toothbrush. "'ang on." He leaned over the kitchen sink and spit out the excess toothpaste in his mouth, causing Jane to grimace.

"Gross."

"Sorry, I woke up late. I gotta go, go, go."

Jane looked at her clock. "It's like, 9:30, Daniel. You normally don't even wake up until ten. What is going on?"

He leaned over the kitchen sink again and spat out the remaining toothpaste, banging the excess water off his brush before tossing it carelessly in the sink among all the 'other' dirty dishes. He grabbed the nearest hand towel and dried his face off and, when he emerged, there was an face-splitting grin on him from ear to ear. "I have a job interview!"

"Wearing that?" Jane looked him up and down again. Not possible. Most people never even left the bedroom looking like that.

Dan, for the record, looked down at himself and then back up at her innocently. "What's wrong with this? I think it embodies my personality."

Jane's answer was to stare at him speechlessly until he laughed loudly. "I'm kidding. It's a phone interview. The guy lives somewhere in New York. I don't really know the exact address. He wouldn't tell me for some reason…" At this last sentence Dan seemed to be re-thinking his decision, which didn't worry Jane in the slightest. As badly as she wanted Dan to make something promising of himself and get a job, she definitely did not want him to get mixed up into something bad. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the very thing Dan looked for in a job prospect.

"Ah, whatevs. I'm sure it's fine. The guy sounded like he knew his shit."

"And what kind of business does he run?" In the interest of keeping her best and only friend safe, Jane had to ask.

"Yeah, I don't really know that for certain either. I mean, I kinda just put my resume out there and waited for someone to call me."

"You have a resume?"

To his credit, Dan tried his best to look hurt at Jane's questioning. "Of course."

"What does it say?"

"Um… it has some references on it. It has… past employment history. You know, the regular things people put on resumes."

"And who did you use for a reference, Dan?"

At this question, Dan suddenly decided he needed to open the fridge for something, thus effectively hiding his face from Jane. "I put you as one…. Actually you're kinda the only one." The rest of his sentence followed quickly "But this guy is the only one who showed any interest in me at all! I have to give him a shot!"

"Dan, I wonder why! Your resume sucks! Your resume sucks worse than mine does and I even put some fiction in yours! You're going to go work for this guy who you don't have an address for, you don't know what he does, you think he found your resume that you just randomly put out there… he's the ONLY one who called you back….you don't even have a name for this guy!"

"I do, actually, his name is Edward." Dan looked slightly taken aback at Jane's outburst which, in her mind was the complete way he SHOULD look. He should be appalled like she was at his actions. But, alas, this was Dan they were talking about. She severely doubted he had ever been appalled at anything in his life.

She tried a change of track instead.

"So are you moving to New York if you get this job?"

For once, Daniel was completely serious. "I'll have to, won't I? But you have to come with me. I know we've talked about leaving this place. There's nothing here for us anyway. I mean, really… if I left what would you have?"

"Nothing." Jane was slightly sickened at the weak sound of her voice.

"And if you left I wouldn't have anything for me here, either. So if we go, we go together." He held his arms out for a hug.

This last brought a smile to Jane's face as she accepted the embrace. "Okay."

"But I have to kick you out."

"What? Why?"

"Because Edward is going to be calling me soon and he told me this was strictly supposed to be one on one."

Jane didn't even try to fight the urge to roll her eyes at him. "One on one? It's a phone interview! How's he going to know if I'm here?"

"He'll know. The guy knows things. Plus… it's like a…'come alone' thing. I have to jump through some hoops so I can get what I want. And I want this job."

"Daniel, you don't even know what this job is."

"No, I don't know what it is but I know I want it. I can't explain it. There's something about this that makes me feel like I'm on the verge of doing something that's going to change my entire life. But first, I have to jump, jump, jump." He accentuated each 'jump' which a gentle shove of Jane towards the door. "And you have to go, go, go. I have, like, six minutes."

"Ugh! Fine!" The frustration in her voice was evident as she was literally placed outside the door. The only reason it wasn't shut right in her face was because her foot was blocking it. "Daniel. When you are finished with this, you call me immediately and let me know what is going on. I want to know everything you know, no exceptions."

"Yes, of course! Now scram!"

Jane relinquished her foot and the door swung shut in front of her. She turned abruptly on her heel and made her way down the stairs and out the door to her car.

What she didn't notice was the gangly guy across the street watching her every move. And, since she had no idea what to look for, she also didn't notice the conspicuous black car with absurdly darkened tinted windows idling at the curb next to Dan's apartment. And, perhaps if she had been an author that wrote Thriller or Spy novels in stead of mystery and horror, and if she had taken note of said car, she would have seen the back window exude a cloud of smoke before a black cigarette was thrown out of it and the window was slowly rolled up.

**an: i've already started chapter four! Thank goodness for day's off! Also, I wanted to thank whomever 'guest' might be for the review. :) It's always nice to know someone is reading, and just between you and me, I think Dan might be getting Jane into something, too. But then again, what kind of adventure story would it be without some sort of catalyst? Enjoy!**


	4. Green Man

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DAN'S APARTMENT:

It took him a minute to get Jane out the door, but when he finally did he sighed in relief. The girl was persistent that was for certain, and he loved that about her. He loved the fact that he also knew she was trying to protect him from getting into something he wasn't capable of getting himself out of. _That was the_ _problem_; he thought to himself as he ran to the bedroom, tore off his pajama clothes and pulled on some regular ones. S_he was too damn helpful._ He loved her, he really did. She had done a lot for him and been there for many things despite the short time they had known one another. But there came a point where he needed to just get her out of his space for one moment so he could think like a criminal.

Because this was most definitely not a phone conversation. It was an in-person conversation.

As lovely and caring and understanding and wonderful as Jane was, Dan knew he couldn't tell his best friend that he had put his resume out in Gotham's wanted ads. He couldn't tell her that he had put it under 'henchman for hire'. He DEFINITELY couldn't tell her it had been answered by one of Gotham's most notorious rogues. Besides… the less she knew the better. Of course, there _was_ that bit about putting her as a reference…

In retrospect that could have been a bad idea. But hey, if the guy needed a character witness and called Jane, Dan knew she would sense the guy was trouble and tell him all the bad things about him that she thought would keep him from getting a job. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for Daniel, that was exactly what he wanted her to tell his new employer. Well… hopefully new employer.

There was a rhythmic knock on the door just as Dan was running a brush through his now gelled hair.

"Speak of the Devil." he muttered to himself as he made a few last minute adjustments to himself. He made his way over to the door and pulled it open with what he hoped was just the right amount of eagerness.

There, standing on his doorstep was someone Dan had only read about in complete fascination.

The Riddler.

He was leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe, twirling a question marked cane in one hand while the other rested casually in his trouser's hip pocket. He looked like he had literally stepped out of a comic book. Green dress shirt, black waistcoat, purple tie, green suit jacket, black suit pants…all topped off with a green bowler hat with a purple hatband. Thinking about it, Dan figured, might have been comical, but the only emotion he actually felt right at that moment was apprehension. This was the gateway to making all his dreams come true. This was the turning point in his life.

"Daniel McCluskey, I presume." It wasn't a question, but the man's cane served as a proverbial punctuation mark.

Dan nodded and cleared his throat. "At your service. And am I to assume you, sir, are the one with whom I am to speak with about a job?"

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. I AM the job. Well, figuratively speaking, of course. I am, in fact, the one with the jobs, the one who does the hiring, the one with whom you should speak, undoubtedly. But first things' first. Might I come in?"

"Oh! Yeah! Please. Come in." He stood aside and allowed the masked man entrance to his home. As the rogue crossed the threshold, he waved the two henchmen following him back out into the hallway. "Please, if you would gentlemen. I don't think Daniel here poses much of a threat to us. What say we leave our violent natures here in the hallway while I pop in to have a little chat with the boy-o mano-e-mano?"

He received only grunts, but that didn't seem to deter him. Dan slid in behind him, closing the door once he was all the way through. "Please, have a seat wherever you would like."

The Riddler chose his seat as close to the door and as far away from the window as he could manage, a positioning strategy that was not lost on Dan.

"So first I would like to congratulate you on a very well-put-together resume. Very…intact. I liked the personal reference, by the way. Never hurts to add a heartfelt touch. Is that a girlfriend, I wonder?"

Dan cleared his throat again. "No, sir. She…Jane. She's my best friend."

"And guaranteed to give you a glowing recommendation, of that I am certain. Does she know what you're applying for? Ah, ah! Don't answer! I'm sure she does not for, if she did, what kind of friend would she be? But then again, birds of a feather and all that, eh?" He quirked an eyebrow at Dan, who was starting to get the impression that this guy had been laughing at him since he opened the door.

The Riddler must have seen he wasn't going to get an answer, never mind the fact that he hadn't really asked a question. "And thusly we come to the matter of checking said references." And with that he reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a cheap, replaceable cell phone. "The number, if you please?"

"Uh…you're going to call her?"

His response was annoyed look from the Riddler, clearly aggravated at having to spell it out for the young man in front of him. "What kind of possible employer would I be if I did not check your references. And furthermore, what kind of possible employee would you be if you did not allow me to check them? Besides, you seem to be the one who all too graciously put this young woman's phone number and home address on a resume that you knew was going to the darkest underbelly of a tainted city, are you not? Now, if you would. The number." The man in green rolled his eyes dramatically at Dan's further hesitation and reached into his pocket, where he removed a folded square of white paper. "Oh, never mind. I have it here on your resume." He unfolded the paper and readied the cell phone, never taking his eyes of Dan.

Briefly, he broke eye contact to dial the number, and then the searching look was back as the masked man held the phone to his ear. There was a moment of such silence that Dan could actually hear the phone ringing on the other end._ Holy shit he actually called her!_ Dan had a few seconds to appreciate the friendship he and Jane had before he got her killed or she killed him, and then there was a click mid-ring and a soft murmur from across the line.

Riddler's face lit up at the sound of it and he jumped to his feet. "Yes, hello! My name is Edward and I'm just calling regarding our mutual acquaintance, Daniel." He listened for a moment.

"Ah, yes I'm there now actually." Some more murmurs from the phone.

"Well, it was originally supposed to be a telephone interview but, since I was in town I decided to pop by for a real chat." Dan heard a moan from the other end of the phone followed by a quiet sentence, which was broken by the Riddler's hysterical laughter. "Why yes! Was he undressed before?"

Dan felt his face flush. If he didn't end up dead he'd never hear the end of this.

"Yes, yes, well I can see how one might prefer the comfort…but listen, that is neither here nor there. What I am actually calling about is the little matter of Dan placing you at the top of his reference list. I was wondering if you might offer a tidbit of insight to this young man."

… "Irresponsible?" Dan's eyes shot over to the phone. Him? Irresponsible?

…. "No sense of punctuality whatsoever, indeed." Dan nearly face-palmed as the Riddler sat back down at the table. His plan was going to backfire. She wasn't telling him things that were criminal about his personality, she was telling him hard factual personality traits that NO employer would want to hire.

…. "Ah, yes. I have gotten that impression myself. Listen, Jane. Might I call you Jane? Young Daniel here speaks wonderfully about you, so wonderfully, in fact that I wonder what involvement you two might have?" ….. The Riddler jerked the phone away from his ear and winced. Dan could clearly hear the raised tones of Jane, which nearly caused him to smile. Nearly. The Riddler hurriedly clicked the phone shut and then snapped it in half at the flip point. "Right then!" He looked back up at Dan, with no visible signs of distress. Coming from a man who had been on the receiving end of one of Jane's temper flares, Dan was impressed that the man could bounce back so easily.

"A glowing recommendation." Dan nearly choked, but he could tell the Riddler was serious. Well, as serious as the Riddler could be. "Granted, were you applying for a job as a traveling salesman, or anything else for that matter, I'm afraid all bets would indeed be off." He rose suddenly and held out his hand.

Dan took the proffered limb and shook it enthusiastically. "So I'm hired?"

"You are indeed! The only small, microscopic, teeny tiny catch is that you have to come with me now. Immediately. No packing, no cleaning up, just you and me in the car downstairs that is costing me a FORTUNE to rent." He winked at Dan conspiratorially and smiled. "Have we got a deal?"

Dan thought back to Jane and his conversation only a little more than an hour ago. He promised he wouldn't leave without her. They were going to go together. But then, this was his dream.

_I'll just go and get things squared away, and then I'll come back for her. We're going to need a place to stay anyway._

"O Danny Boy? Have we got a deal or no? I haven't got all day."

Dan looked evenly at the well-dressed rogue. "Deal."

**So just wanted to pop in and let you all know: Sorry this is a bit rough sounding. I'm trying to get it all out on paper before I go back and edit it. It's a new strategy I'm trying rather than take eons to upload one chapter and then never finishing the story. :D Cheerio!**


	5. Sail

:

Rrrrring. Rrrrrring. Rrrrriiiiiing.

Still no answer. Jane chucked her phone towards the bed and brought her hand up to her face. She had to go over there. There was no question about it. Dan hadn't answered her calls all day. It had been hours since she had gotten off the phone with that irritatingly cheerful man after a 'recommendation' that she was certain would keep Dan from possibly ever getting hired again and she still hadn't heard back from him. Was it possible he was mad at her for blowing his chances at work?

_Well, he's apparently not going to answer his phone, so I guess I'll just have to go see him._

With a huff, Jane retrieved her cell from the floor where it had bounced and grabbed a light jacket before fishing her keys out of her purse and grabbing that as well. She locked the door behind her distractedly (which, had she thought about it, she might have not done. She never locked her door, but then again, neither did anyone else in Glynn) and jogged to her car, a 1998 forest green Jeep Cherokee.

::::: Twenty Minutes Later :::::

Jane pulled up outside of Dan's apartment and barely had time to set the e-brake before she was out of the jeep. She walked briskly up to the door and just as she was about to hit the call button, the doors opened for her. A teenage couple made their way past her, too caught up in their own conversation to see her duck in through the door as they cleared it. She took the stairs two at a time until she reached Dan's floor. She rapped quickly on the hard wood.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Twenty seconds.

No answer. _Dammit, where is he?_ She rapped on the door again.

Another full minute passed before Jane really started to worry. She tried the handle and was surprised to find it unlocked. She pushed her way into the apartment and looked around wildly, the darker part of her expecting to see Dan hanging from the ceiling fan. Seeing no such thing, Jane darted down the hall. Bathroom-no. Bedroom-no. Living room-NO!

_Ugh._ She thought. _Where the hell could he be?_

She walked somewhat more slowly back into the kitchen, hoping to see something that had previously escaped her attention and flopped down heavily at the table, unbeknownst to her, the exact same spot the Riddler himself was perched in earlier while he was on the phone with her. Jane was just about to bang her head repeatedly into the table or call the police (she hadn't decided which one yet) when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. A paper bearing her name in Dan's chicken scratch handwriting.

Reaching across the space between the table and the counter, Jane snatched up the folded note and tore it open.

Jane.

_No shit._ She kept reading.

I had to go. The job offer was perfect and I just had to take it. I couldn't bring any of  
my stuff but I'd really appreciate it if you'd pack some of it for me (maybe some of the  
stuff I need-you know what I'm talking about) and hold it for me at your place. This  
isn't forever. I'll be back in no time but right now I can't give you a date. I know we  
were supposed to leave glynn together but please understand I had to do this and  
I promise I'll be back for you when I can.

Dan

All infuriatingly incorrect punctuation and sentence structure aside, Jane was livid. She had literally crossed over from worried to boiling in the thirty seconds it took her to read that blasted note.

_Well fuck this_. Jane thought with a mental eye roll._ If he thinks I'm just going to wait around for him to give me a call letting me know when I can tag along, he's batshit._

She bolted out of the apartment without packing anything, specifically and intentionally ignoring Dan's request and jumped into her jeep, tearing down the street as fast as she could.

Out of nowhere (and much to her dismay) Jane's anger dissipated into hurt. Tears blinded her face and she angrily dashed them away to see the road.

"Stop it." She told herself aloud. _He'll be back_.

::::: One Week Later :::::

Jane was stuck again. Her novel had progressed exactly zero percent since Dan had left to Wherever The Hell He Went. She had gotten over the initial anger and sadness and now she was feeling deserted. The overall effect found Jane not leaving her house for more than food for the last week and, had she ever enjoyed cooking, she wouldn't have even been leaving for that.

Currently, she was seated at her computer banging words in harder than was perhaps strictly necessary. None of it made any sense whatsoever. She knew that, upon the reading and editing portion before she attempted to publish this piece of shit, she was going to delete everything she touched in the last seven days. Disgusted, Jane stood up and walked over to the window to look down into the street.

_Nothing new happening down there,_ she thought to herself with a sigh. _Not that it ever does._

She was just about to search her fridge fruitlessly when she felt her hip pocket start to vibrate ecstatically, causing another sigh to bubble up from her lungs. Her mother had been calling her almost non-stop the last few days. Jane had made the mistake of answering her call a couple days after Dan had left and her mother had immediately picked up on a Daughter in Distress so she had made it her personal mission to call her at least three times a day to make sure she hadn't offed herself. Ironically, it was those very calls that made Jane consider doing just that.

And yet, a worried, concerned voice was better than her own at this point, and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. Instead of her mother's usual picture, however, the caller ID was replaced with her little android guy and a number she didn't recognize. Wearily she put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Jane!"

There was no mistaking the voice on the other end of the phone.

"Dan." It was more of a statement. Not like an `I'm happy to hear from you.` and a far cry from `How are you? I miss you!` _But he's lucky to get any recognition at all, the ass._ She thought to herself.

Undaunted by the tone of his friends voice, Dan chirped cheerfully back in her ear. "Yeah! Hey, listen. There's so much I want to say. I don't even know where to start!"

Jane rolled her eyes. "You could say you're sorry. Now there's an idea."

"I am, I am! I am_ so_ sorry, Jane. I wanted you to come, really I did! But Edward said I couldn't bring anyone or anything, and that we just needed to go… it was so spur of the moment, I honestly didn't have a choice. But-"

"You had a choice and you made it." Jane surprised herself at the venom in her voice, and Dan had the good grace to sound a little guilty when next he relied.

"Jane, I'm sorry. I'm calling you to tell you that. And to tell you that I made enough money this week to get a place and I want you to come stay with me here in Gotham."

"YOU'RE IN GOTHAM!?" Jane nearly punched the phone, wishing upon wish that it was Dan's face.

"Er… yeah. It's really not as bad as everyone says it is. The sun actually shines here and, whatever you've heard, it's not like the criminals just run rampant all across the city."

It was silent a moment before Jane sighed over the phone. _Gotham City. What was he thinking?_

"Jane?"

"Yes, Daniel. I'm here."

"So what do you say? Wanna live in the underbelly?"

She knew he was trying to be humorous, but laughing was the last thing she felt like doing at the moment. Gotham, Gotham, Gotham. Sure, Jane wanted to be out of Glynn, but what was there for her in Gotham? Suddenly, it struck her.

She could write about the villains.

As soon as the idea was in her head, it was all she could think about. _There's no end of material! And fascinating material to boot! No blockage, no factual misrepresentations, I mean, fuck!_ The truth was far more unbelievable than she could make it if she were writing fiction! _A bunch of grown men and women dressing in crazy costumes and plundering a smoky grunge-fest!_

"Yes, Dan. I would love to live in Gotham with you."


	6. Stranger in A Strange Land

:

After Jane hung up the phone, she had sighed to herself. She had spontaneously agreed to go live in Gotham, (the most dangerous city she knew of) with Dan who, at any given time, was just _looking_ for something to get himself into trouble with. It was definitely going to be an adventure, at least.

Now, several hours after the fact, she was just finishing up the packing. She leaned heavily on her duffle bag so she could zip it up and quickly looked around the apartment for anything else she wouldn't be able to live without. Seeing nothing, Jane made her way into the living room and grabbed her purse off the counter. She pulled out three months worth of rent (withdrawn from the ATM directly after the phone call) and left it in an envelope on the counter for her landlord, explaining to him that she had to leave town on business for awhile and didn't know how long she would be gone and that the money was to tide him over until her return.

That finished, she grabbed her two packed duffle bags, her purse, and a light jacket (after all, it was mid spring) and jogged out the door to her jeep. For a minute, Jane was torn. _T__o bring you or not to bring you_, she wondered to herself. The train would be easier. No vehicle to worry about, and less expenditure in the long run. Jane had a feeling she was going to need all the spare money she could get to bail Dan out of jail a few times. In the end, the question of money won out (that and the fact that in Glynn her jeep wouldn't be atrociously vandalized) and she set off on foot the six block walk to the train station.

::::: Four Hours Later :::::

Dan was waiting for Jane as she exited the train in Gotham City. It wasn't that she was even particularly looking for him, but that he was absolutely ostentatious in his lime green suit jacket and lime green trousers and black stocking cap. He looked ridiculous, and Jane could barely contain herself as she thought briefly if she should approach someone dressed like that.

_He hasn't seen you yet. You can make a break for it. There's a train back to Glynn in 20 minutes. You can be back home, in your own bed in three hours, tops._ Shaking her head, Jane resolved the issue simply by shoving it to the far recesses of her mind. No one knew her here. It's not like they were going to follow her down the street laughing at her choice of companions. Even if they did, it had been a long time since Jane was in a fight and it might have been something about the air of Gotham, but she wasn't completely opposed to getting into one now. Thus settled, she made a wide loop and circled in on Dan from behind.

Jane didn't stop until she was just inches from his ear. Only then did she whisper in (what she hoped was) a threatening voice. "Put your damn hands where I can see them. We're going outside."

Except for his hands (which shot out of his coat pockets and into the open) Dan froze instantly. Jane was actually a little unnerved at his immediate compliance. So unnerved, in fact, she ended the charade. "Dan, chill. It's just me."

Dan visibly relaxed and turned around slowly, the remnants of something Jane didn't want to identify (fear?) on his face, hurriedly covered by relief and his happiness at seeing her. He snatched her up into a rib-crushing hug.

"You scared the fuck out of me!" He said into her hair. "How the hell are you?!" Dan let her go at arms length so she could answer.

"I'm doing well but watch your language, Daniel! Is that the effect this place is having on you?"

Looking a little sheepish, Dan grabbed her had and pulled her towards the train station exit door. "Yeah, maybe. It's actually my boss. If you think that was bad, you should hear him. He could make the paint peel with the language he uses."

Jane scowled. She already didn't like this guy. "Edward?" She asked, trying to sound innocently curious.

"Yeah, but no one calls him that." Jane was about to ask why when Dan yanked her in another direction. "Listen, are you hungry? I'm starving. We need to grab something to eat before we go to my place because God knows I have nothing in my fridge. Come to think of it," Dan quieted pondering. "I don't think I have a fridge."

This earned him a giggle from Jane followed by and eye roll. Completely forgetting her line of questioning, she allowed Dan to drag her unceremoniously down the street away from the train station.

They had been walking for perhaps ten minutes, with constant readjusting of the bags from Jane's apartment that Dan did not offer to carry before Jane stumbled to a halt. "Dan. You need to take at least one of these bags."

"Sorry." Her friend laughed and looked them over, probably for the lightest one before changing his mind and shouldering the duffel, lightening her load considerably.

They walked on a bit more, Dan stopping in front of a few food places before shaking his head and making some derogatory comment or another about their food before moving on. Finally, Jane was getting beyond tired. She could tell Dan had something serious on his mind by the way he was acting. He kept glancing up and down the street before crossing it (_Shut it, that can be attributed to safety_) and he looked like he was thinking something intense but didn't want to mention it. Every time he opened his mouth to say something, he closed it again with a snap. This, of course, only made Jane want to ask more.

Finally she couldn't take it anymore. After the ninth consecutive place Dan turned down because he was convinced they used cat meat, Jane stopped abruptly, causing him to be pulled backwards by their connected hands. "Dan. What's the matter? You're….shifty."

He looked at her guiltily and shrugged.

" You know I'm your best friend, Daniel. Anything you tell me is going to be okay. I just know something is bothering you."

He still remained silent and Jane knew he wasn't going to talk, so she hazarded a guess. "Is it your new line of work?" Just by the look on his face, Jane could tell she hit the nail on the head.

Finally he knew he couldn't jerk her around anymore. "Yes. Well, kind of…." he trailed off and shrugged again, his attempt at dismissing the problem. At least for now. "There's just so much I want to tell you. Hey, I was kidding about the fridge. Do you want to just go back to my place and catch up? You should know so much has happened….even though it's only been a week I feel like a completely different person."

Jane nodded carefully. If that would get him to talk, that was what they would do. "Yeah, okay. Lead on."

Dan continued on in the same direction and Jane looked around curiously. Gotham had an old-time feel to it. Very…Industrial Age. The buildings were old and square, with broad, flat roofs (_perfect for the Batman_) and the old Highway Billboard signs on almost every surface. It was an over-advertised, over-populated, over-exhausted place that smelled like a car backfired and caught a tire factory on fire. Somehow, through all of this however, Jane could see what was drawing Dan to this place. Despite the gutters and the filth and the rust and the smell, Jane felt a sense of….anonymity. Like she could be anything she wanted. _Do_ anything she wanted and no one cared to stop her. Or, if they did care, _couldn't _stop her. The place was perfect for Dan and, she struggled to admit midst the alarm bells sounding in her head, it was comfortable for Jane, too.

Before she knew it, they were ducking into an old apartment building. It looked like, if a bird were to land on it, it would fall over. "This is where you live," she asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Real estate's kinda expensive around here. And… the landlord doesn't ask too many questions."

Jane followed Dan up the stairs, cringing with every step. "Questions? Why would you mind if he asked you questions?" When her friend didn't answer, Jane grabbed his ankle as he was about to take a step, sending him sprawling onto the landing above him.

"OW! The fuck was that for?!"

Jane stood over him, helping him up. "I just wanted to get your attention. You keep saying things that really make me wonder what it is you're doing for work, Dan. I'm just very concerned that you're doing something illegal and this….place…is an effort to keep you under the radar."

Daniel stopped next to a sunken wooden door. He pulled out a key and hastily unlocked it. "It's not that I'm trying to make you worry, Jane. I just… I know you're not going to be happy about some things."

"I know that, and that's why I keep asking you to tell me what it is. Whatever it is it won't jeopardize our friendship. It just seems like you're wound so tight and you're being so secretive and I didn't think that was how our friendship was."

"Jane." Dan took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he opened the door. "I came here for work. You know that. What I didn't tell you is that the application I sent out, the resume rather… it was for here originally. And I already knew what kind of business I wanted to get into."

He walked into the living room as Jane set her belongings down on the kitchen 'table'. "And what kind of business would that be?" She waited for Dan's answer and started pulling kitchen accessories out of her bag. She's brought quite a few things knowing that Dan probably didn't have very much in the way of utensils…plates….food…

It took her a minute to realize she was still waiting for his answer. "What kind of business, Dan?"

She put her stuff down and followed the way he had went into the living room.

There she found Dan sitting in an armchair across the room, staring apprehensively at a tall man standing in the center of the living room wearing a dark green suit jacket, (very similar to Dan's, in fact, and Jane kicked herself at the realization) dark grey pinstriped pants and black and white wingtips. He turned at her entrance and, upon seeing a lady in the room, whipped off his dark, felt green bowler hat and held it clasped in front of him.

"Why, business with me of course! You must be Jane!"


	7. You Don't Just Want To Break Me

:

"Why, business with me of course! You must be Jane!"

Jane could only gape at the man standing in the center of the room. He was well-dressed in a business/casual way. After removing his hat, Jane could see that he had deep russet-colored hair that made the green suit him perfectly. He was wearing a dark purple domino mask that matched his tie, but even with the mask, Jane could see that his eyes were a dark forest green that accented the rest of his attire. The hand held in front of him that was not clasping his hat, was wrapped lazily around a black cane with a bronzed question marked handle.

He seemed to be waiting for some kind of recognition from Jane, but she gave him none. Sure, she had heard of the Riddler-who on this side of the country hadn't? But she could not bring herself to give him the satisfaction of appearing completely flabbergasted. Damn straight she was surprised, but in all truthfulness, she was somewhat relieved as well. Jane knew Dan had gotten himself into something when he moved here, and since it was Gotham, one could easily jump to the conclusion that it was a life of crime. But Jane also knew that things could be so much worse. There were more dangerous criminals than that man standing before her. _Death traps killed you, yes. But it's not like he did it by his own hand… and really… well it's not like he did it by his own hand, _she reassured herself. _And he's…gorgeous._ This last caused her to blush furiously, which the suited man must have taken as an invitation to continue their one-sided conversation.

"I've heard so much about you!" He gushed, not phased at all by her sudden silence (if anything he seemed encouraged by it). "And I have got to say, you are JUST like I pictured you!"

With that, Jane forgot his looks and his charm. "Yeah? I've heard a little about you, too, and from the language that Dan's picked up I can only assume you are a terrible influence." She didn't know where that had come from but Jane fought the urge to clap her hand over her mouth. That was supposed to be a silent comment! Her brain screamed at her in shock, followed closely by You're going to die.

The Riddler, on the other hand, held his hat-ful hand to his heart in a seemingly genuine expression of hurt. "Language? What language?"

She looked from Dan to the Riddler, slightly unsure of how to proceed. "The bad language. The cursing. I suppose I have you to thank for that."

"Daniel said I cursed?!" Further hurt. Disbelief. The Riddler looked over at Dan questioningly.

"I believe the exact phrase he used was that your language 'could peel the paint off of a wall.'"

Far from being guilty or even slightly embarrassed, the man in green was not only pleased, but he let his head fall back and laughed heartily. Jane failed to see what was so funny. "OH! Well be that as it may, I try my best to refrain from cursing. I believe it is the fallback for an individual with an inferior vocabulary. However, sometimes the language I do use does get a bit…colorful. That being said, my dear Jane, I must take my leave. I only wanted to ensure that Daniel here received a very important message as to our mutual interests. I trust there are no questions?" This last he directed towards Dan, who shook his head.

Not about to let him go that easily, Jane sighed in frustration and looked over at Dan. "Dan you work for the Riddler?"

Dan nodded quietly. In fact, Jane didn't think she had ever seen Dan this quiet before in the entire time she knew him. When Jane looked back over to the Riddler hoping _someone_ would give her an answer, he was twirling his cane comfortably.

"So you _have_ heard of me?"

The proud smile on his face gave Jane butterflies in her stomach that she desperately tried to quash. "Of course."

The Riddler seemed overjoyed at this. "What have you heard?!" He asked excitedly like a small child.

Jane found it hard not to smile at his mercurial mood swings. "You build your death traps and you challenge people's intellect and if they aren't smart enough…" She drug her finger across her throat, which the Riddler found hysterical.

"Daniel! I _like_ her!" Dan smiled weakly and relaxed a tiny bit. The Riddler paid no mind and turned back to Jane. "So what do you derive from that, my dear?"

It took her a moment to think. What did she derive from that, indeed? Though she had been mildly frightened of his sudden appearance in the apartment, she could honestly say the closest thing she had to a dark feeling concerning him was a mild irritation at her original assessment that he was promoting foul language around Dan. Other than that, she felt oddly comfortable in the man's presence. The fact that there were no alarm bells going off in her head scared her more than anything, though. She was in the presence of a deadly, certifiable lunatic who by her own admission built traps for people to die in if they couldn't find a way out of it and the word she used to describe what she thought of him was 'comfortable'.

"While I don't necessarily agree with your methods, I think you're probably a genius." She said carefully.

"There is no 'probably' about it, but otherwise, fantastic!" The Riddle clapped his hands in joy again and crossed the room towards her. "But I really should be going." He looked at Dan over his shoulder. "Daniel, I will see you tonight." He looked back to Jane and caught her hand in his to kiss the back of it in an oddly endearing gesture. "Jane, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you. I know we are going to get along famously."

Jane couldn't help her small smile as the Riddler turned on his heel and strode out the door whistling a tune that sounded oddly enough like "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."

As soon as the door swung shut behind him Jane turned slowly toward Dan, who seemed genuinely afraid of her reaction.

"I'm so sorry, Jane! I had no idea he'd be here and I should have told you all about this from the beginning but I was so afraid of what you'd think of me that I-"

"Dan!" She cut him off with her hand upraised. "It's okay. I understand."

"You do?" He asked incredulously.

"Yeah," she sighed. "I do. And to be honest, I'm just glad it's not the Joker. He scares me. This guy actually seems…nice."

Sensing that the danger had passed, a slow smile crept across Dan's face. "I saw you blush. You like him!"

Jane blushed furiously again. "I won't deny that he's not unattractive. And he seems like a very interesting conversationalist."

"That's an awful lot of double negatives." Dan said, still smiling like a fool.

Jane looked at her sleeve, picking off an imaginary lint. "Well, perhaps." Was all she offered and Dan, sensing his unspoken victory, shouldered a backpack that was in the corner.

He looked up to find Jane watching him curiously. "I've got to go out. That's why Riddler was here. He needs me to run a couple errands tonight. I'll be back before you know it." He crossed the living room, quickly closing the space between them and enfolded Jane in a tight hug. "I really am glad you're here, Jane. I missed you so much and thank you for understanding."

Dan released her and stepped back. "See you tonight."

"Okay." Jane sighed. She watched Dan close the door behind him and flopped down in the armchair where he had been sitting. "I just got ditched for a guy in a purple mask."

The thought alone made her tired and she curled up in the chair to take a nap and await Dan's return.

::::: Three Hours Later :::::

Jane shot up in the chair breathing heavily. Already the nightmare that had awoken her was fading into her memory and as much as she tried to grasp it, it seemed to slip away only faster. She struggled up out of the armchair and winced as her leg bumped the chair. Her position on the cushion had apparently made it fall asleep and she was now dealing with the pin-and-needle aftermath as she hobbled into the kitchen for a drink.

Dan's kitchen….

Where was Dan?

She looked at her phone 11 pm. Three hours had passed since he had told her he would be 'right back'. She had taken a three hour nap and he still hadn't come back? She wandered back out of the kitchen, momentarily forgetting her glass of water, and back into the living room.

Nope. No Dan.

There was a small closet in the corner of the apartment, but aside from that, there didn't seem to be any more to the dwelling. _No bedroom_, she thought to herself. _He must sleep on the couch… or in the chair… _

The thought made her feel sad. Dan had been living in this piece of crap apartment for how long now? And he didn't have anything at all in it? He must have been making terrible money. Suddenly she was infuriated with the Riddler. _He should pay Dan more! God only knows the kinds of things he does for that man! _She suspected the Riddler's hideout wasn't nearly this ramshackle.

Be that as it may, there was still no sign of Dan in the apartment. She pulled her phone out again, and debated calling him. What if he was in the middle of a 'job'? What if he was trying to be quiet? She had watched enough movies in her day to know that if she called him while he was sneaking around someone's house and he was heard, he was going to get hurt. She tossed the phone from hand to hand finally deciding to send him a quick text. From past experience he usually had his texts on vibrate anyway.

She flipped the phone open and typed around on the keypad for a moment.

** Where are you?**

She read it over, debating whether or not to send it one last time before worry won out and she pressed the 'send' button, sending the message blinking off into thin air.

Barely a minute had gone by before her phone chimed with the incoming message sound. She stared down at the screen. It could only be Dan. _That was quick, _she thought to herself, opening the phone.

**On our way.**

Her first thought was relief. _Wait. 'Our'? _

The thought barely had time to register before Dan burst through the door, slung over the shoulder of a burly guy that looked like he could be a bouncer for the sleaziest bar in New York. He was balding with a black baseball cap on, black hoodie and black jeans. His steel toe lineman's boots were covered in mud and Jane spared a quick thought for the carpet before her attention was turned entirely on her friend. The hulk had barely cleared the door before another man in a tell-tale green suit skidded in behind them, slamming the door and locking it.

"What happened!?" Jane cried, making room on the couch for the giant to lay her friend down over the cushions. She got a good look at Dan and bile rose in her throat. His left eye was so swollen and puffy that the skin had split, leaving a long cut from just above his brow to down past his cheekbone. His lip was busted, but it didn't look too bad. His white-blonde hair that made him look so young and innocent was covered in blood, matting it and dying it a rust color that was quickly drying to brown. His lime green jacket was so torn up that it was barely recognizable. Judging by the angle of his right arm, it was definitely broken. Everything south of the torso, however, looked reasonably okay.

Jane covered her mouth and turned to look at the Riddler with threatening tears in her eyes. He handed her phone (_he must've been the one to send me the text_, Jane thought) over to her gently as he met her stare with an equally emotional look. However, instead of tears, she saw worry, doubt…fear… Was it for Dan or for himself?

She didn't know the man. _He was a narcissist. It was probably for himself._ The sight of her best friend lying in tatters and of the man that caused it standing there with self-pity in his eyes infuriated her. She threw out her arm and slammed it into his shoulder, effectively straight-arming him. He was knocked back a couple feet and the look in his eyes turned to one of surprise. _Surprise! He **should** be surprised!_

"What the hell happened, Riddler!?"

He saw the angry glare and whipped his hat off, letting it fall to the floor. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Batman! Batman happened! Batman_ always_ happens! I don't even know how he knew we were_ there_! He showed up and he beat the ever-loving _crap_ out of my men and now Daniel….is…well_ look_!" He gestured helplessly toward the body on the couch and bit the back of his pointer finger's knuckle. It was such an emotional outburst that Jane momentarily forgot that the man was reported to care about no one but himself. She looked back down at Daniel and forced herself into action.

"We have to get him to a hospital."

Riddler's eyes shot up at her. "They won't treat him dressed like that!"

She looked down at Dan again, failing to see the problem. _They wouldn't possibly turn him away because of his tattered clothes, would they_? "Dressed like what?"

"The green suit. They'll know he works for me. They probably won't even let him in the building." Riddler murmured quietly.

"They have to! He's hurt! It's the law!"

An emotionless laugh escaped all the men in the room except the one lying motionless on the couch. The tall buff guy that had brought Dan in over his shoulder looked at her with dry humor in his eyes. "We've been through it before, lady. Goon clothes won't get you anywhere in this city."

Jane growled in frustration and looked back down at her friend. That coat was already in tatters. She reached down and ripped it the rest of the way off, causing Dan to moan weakly in pain. "Sorry, sorry! I'm so sorry…" She rested her hand on his forehead for a second, brushing the hair back. She straightened then and grabbed for her phone, hitting the three magic keys and the call button.

"…_911 state your emergency."_

"It's my friend! He's been mugged!"

"…_.where is he now, miss?"_

"He's here!" She quickly gave them the address. "He dragged himself home somehow, please send someone, he's hurt really badly!" She slammed the phone shut, not waiting for a response and shoved it back into her jeans pocket, her face contorted with worry. She turned to Riddler and saw him watching her anxiously. Suddenly, Jane didn't know what came over her, but she wasn't just worried about Dan. "You guys should go. If you're here when the paramedics get here, they're going to ask a lot more questions."

Relief flashed across his eyes and he nodded briefly. "Thank you, Jane. Please, make sure Daniel is treated well." The irony of_ him_ asking _her_ that registered soundly with her and he must have seen it in her eyes, for he smiled wryly at her and rested his hand on her shoulder momentarily before turning and disappearing out the door without another word, the two henchmen following him out the door. For two big guys, they moved awfully quietly.

She was left staring down at Dan, gently wiping away the dried blood. It was only a few short minutes until she heard sirens approaching in the distance.


	8. You Want To Tear Me Apart

:

THE HOSPITAL:

The ambulance ride had been the longest ride of her life. Jane had ridden in the back with Dan, just holding his hand. In reality it had probably only taken ten minutes if that. In Gotham, there seemed to be several hospitals. They had been taken to Gotham General, which Jane assumed was the largest and most well-known.

Upon arrival, men and women in white coats had been waiting to usher Dan into the emergency room as soon as possible. It had been a grueling two hours in the operating room before the doctor had come into the waiting room to let Jane know that Dan was going to make a full recovery, with no discernable chance of complications.

Jane had been so relieved that the next hour had been a blur. Dan in the hospital room, her in the hospital room, the cafeteria, back to the hospital room, Dan was still asleep… she was physically and emotionally exhausted. Finally after another half hour of waiting for Dan to wake up with no success, she had fallen asleep on the pull-out armchair in the hospital room. She didn't know how long she had been asleep, and her phone was dead when she awoke, but light was streaming in from outside. She sat up straighter and looked over at Dan, who she could swear looked like he had a little more color in his cheeks. It was faint, but she was certain it was there.

It had eased her mind a little and she had left briefly to see if the cafeteria had reopened yet. As long as Dan was looking better, she had felt a little better about eating.

The cafeteria, which was where she now was, had a dingy, off white aura too it. She grabbed some of the fresh fruit that was out on the table (the only other option was pancakes or biscuits and gravy, both of which seemed too heavy for breakfast for her) and headed back to the hospital room. Even though it was a hospital, anywhere felt better than that cafeteria.

She entered Dan's room to find a young man in a white lab coat checking his chart with his back to her. He heard her enter and turned around quickly. She nearly dropped the fruit she was holding as she came face-to-face with the Riddler in Dr. Attire.

His eyes met hers and he smiled widely. "A full recovery I gather."

"Yes… he's going to be fine." She was still slightly getting over the shock at seeing the criminal there, a fact that he seemed to pick up on immediately.

"Sorry if I frightened you. I wanted to see how our mutual friend was doing. I feel simply devastated about everything that happened last night." He let the chart rest in its plastic shelf and stepped towards her and for an instant she saw through his cheerful demeanor to something more vibrant. Riddler seemed like he had been anxious to find out how Dan had fared. In the instant she saw it, however, it disappeared and she was left questioning whether it had even happened. He was standing with his hands on his hips, turned towards her but looking sideways at Dan with an impassive expression on his face.

Even though Jane had only seen him a handful of times in person or on the news, it was strange to see him in regular clothing. He was wearing black slacks and a dark green sweater vest with the argyle pattern that was commonly seen on very old men playing chess at the park. Yet, somehow, it suited him perfectly. Rather than a purple domino mask covering his eyes, he was wearing thick black-rimmed glasses and she wondered if he really needed them or if they were just part of his disguise. His hair looked like it had been gelled with care, but there was a natural cal lick in the front that she found adorable. He kept moving his hands from his hips to his pockets and back again, almost as if he didn't know what to do with them without his cane handy.

He turned back to her at the silence to find her staring at him. "Do you see something you like?" He asked her silkily, causing her to turn back to Dan.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Oh, on the contrary, you may stare at me all you like." Jane didn't look back to him to see his reaction, for his voice told her all she needed to hear and all she already knew. He was a narcissist._ Not even a closet-case one. He was a blatant narcissist. _

Jane felt the blood rise to her cheeks. _Damn him for being so attractive. _

Then, _Whoa. Where did that thought come from? We're worried about Dan, here!_

She could feel his eyes on her and she tried desperately to fish for something so he wouldn't see the blush, some topic of conversation to break their awkward silence. Thankfully, Riddler did it for her.

"Have you eaten?"

"Yes." She gestured towards her handful of fruit. "Well, in the process of. Would you like an orange?"

He looked at her fruit collection and smirked. "I'm afraid I'm not much for oranges, but perhaps an apple?"

Jane looked down at her hands. She had snagged a red apple and a green apple. She could already guess which one Riddler was going to want, but she wasn't particularly fond of red apples. She held the red one out to him.

"Ah, ah," he wagged his index finger at her. "Now you and I both know it's that green one I'm after."

"Sorry, Riddler. It's the red apple or no apple."

He mock pouted, but then fast as lightning reached out and smacked the bottom of her hand, causing the apple to fly up into the air. She would have gotten to it first, but he was much taller than she, and he easily caught it, looking down at her triumphantly.

He opened his mouth to say something (_probably something sarcastic and victorious_), but Jane was having none of it. She lunged at him, causing him to stagger back in surprise. Using it to her advantage, Jane kicked the back of his knee, which brought Riddler down to one knee. Ignoring his wince of pain, the young woman moved to pluck the apple out of his still upraised hand.

However, countless tangles with Batman had prepared Riddler for any such distraction that Jane could offer, and he held fast to the apple, rolling backwards meaning to spin out of her grasp. She, in turn, surprised him with her vice-like grip on the fruit and the movement brought her down on top of him, both parties grappling on the floor.

Not in the least daunted by the somewhat awkward proximity of their bodies, Jane continued trying to pry the apple from the man's hand. He wasn't overly strong, but he was larger than her, and he used his leverage to his advantage, rolling them over until he was pinning her on the hospital room floor. Riddler's eyes flashed with something she couldn't or didn't want to identify. "How convenient…" he purred quietly.

Suddenly, that awkward proximity was all-too obvious and Jane looked up into the man's eyes. "Give it back, Riddler."

"That's not a very polite way to ask and, given the circumstances, I would rather you called me Edward."

"Please give me the apple, Edward."

"Do you really want it that badly?"

She could see he didn't want to hand it over. _Was he talking about the apple? Was it even about the apple any more? _Judging by the look in his eyes the fruit was merely a tool. He brought it up to his mouth and took a large bite out of it, smiling cheekily around his mouthful down at her.

She scowled, irritated at having lost and tried to wriggle out of his grasp. In turn, he held her fast. That is, until a throat cleared from the bed above them.

Two pairs of eyes swung up to meet Dan, who was lying awake on the bed, a pained yet amused expression on his face._ Shit! How much had he seen?_ Dan answered her unspoken question with his next comment:

"I'll take the red one."

She wriggled more furiously, and finally Riddler (_should I call him Edward_?) grudgingly moved to the side, allowing her to stand. "Dan!" Jane rushed over to his bedside. "How are you feeling?"

Dan looked momentarily from his friend to his boss and back again. He looked like he was going to say something, then opted to let it pass. "Not terrible, I guess. My eye hurts more than anything. How do I look?"

"Atrocious" Riddler said forlornly from behind Jane, who shot him an exasperated look.

"You're not that bad, Dan. The eye does look a little painful, but the Doctors say you're going to make a full recovery."

"Though I don't know if you can trust the staff, here. They'll give anyone a job." Riddler gestured down to his lab coat.

Dan smiled weakly and tried to sit up, which caused him to inhale sharply in pain.

Both Jane and the Riddler took a quick step forward to make sure he didn't try again. The woman was the first one to him. "No, Dan. It's too soon!" She hated to see Dan reduced to this. Not even being able to sit up. "They said they might keep you a week."

"A week?!" Dan yelped. "Gross! I don't wanna be here a week!" He looked forlornly up at Riddler, as if he expected him to be able to do something about it. To Jane's horror, Riddler responded in kind.

"You don't have to, Dan. The boys and I can get you out of here tonight."

"What? NO!" Jane hissed. "He needs to stay here!"

The two men ignored her completely, Dan instead nodding enthusiastically. "Yes! Please. If they start trying to feed me jell-o… or… I don't know. Whatever else hospitals feel people, I'm going to die."

Riddler nodded and grimaced. "I know."

Jane growled in frustration at their lack of attention to her pleas. "Hey! No one is moving Dan! He needs to be discharged!"

Dan looked at Jane with worry. "You don't want me to _die_, do you, Jane?"

"Of course not! I want you to get _better_!

"Besides, I can discharge him," Riddler announced picking up Dan's chart off the shelf again, perusing it.

"By a DOCTOR." Jane enunciated.

Riddler, smirking again at Jane and rolling his eyes, grabbed the pen out of the pocket protector in his lab coat and signed with a flourish at the bottom of the chart. He glanced up to see Jane staring at him ferociously before looking back down at the chart. "What? I _am_ a doctor."

"You're wearing a lab coat that you stole."

"Actually, there is where you are wrong," he murmured, still looking at the chart. "I hold two doctorates. Sadly, medicine is not one of them but, alas, a great man once said 'We can't always get what we want'."

With that, Edward placed the chart carefully back in the shelf and turned to look at the others. Jane still did not look happy. "Well, on that note, I'll be seeing the both of you very soon."

Jane looked back at Dan and mouthed '_see you later'_. He nodded and relaxed back into the hospital bed. Jane followed Riddler out the door and down the hallway. The exit was nearly in sight when he finally acknowledged her presence. "Something I can help you with, Jane?" He didn't look at her, or slow in the slightest and his legs were so long she had to struggle to keep up with him.

"I'm coming with you."

"Are you, now? And why would that be?"

"I want to make sure you don't come back for Dan tonight." _I feel like we had a moment and it scares me._

Edward stopped and faced her finally. He stared into her eyes for a moment, before explaining carefully. "I am coming back for Daniel tonight. He took one for the proverbial team and I owe it to him to get him out of this place. I myself hate hospitals."

The last statement made Jane even more curious. The bitterness that laced his voice with the comment was born of practice and experience. The man probably hated hospitals because he had an on-again, off-again relationship with them. "Okay," she sighed, realizing she wasn't going to be able to stop him if he was coming back. Besides the doctors _had_ said he was going to make a full recovery.

"Then call it a sense of curiosity." That wasn't far from the truth. She was curious. _Why do I have this silly crush on you, Mr. Riddler?_

Edward looked at her for a long time before he nodded slowly. "Curiosity. Now _that's _something I can indulge in," he smiled, not realizing the suggestiveness given her current train of thought. "Very well. Follow me…again."

Jane would have missed the smile that flashed across his face as he turned away had she not been paying particularly close attention.

The two made their way to the exit and out the doors of the hospital.

**...**

**AN: Hey all. So, you may have noticed the chapter explosion over last night and today. I'm actually kind of stuck at my work due to the atrocious weather we've been having (gigantic snow-storm, supposed to get 24-30 inches) and here I am, with no kid and no husband and no pressing work matters and all these IDEAS! So, finally, I can just write to my hearts content! After today, the production may slow down a bit more, but it's coming easily to me for once. This story seems to have 'found it's niche' ;) Anyway, since I haven't really said too much in the regards of reviews, I'll go ahead and do that for a minute.**

**I. Love. Reviews. You don't even know. Every day I log onto FF even if I'm not posting just to see if anyone reviewed or to check the visitor graph and see how many people are viewing or reading. It really motivates me when I know people are waiting for the next installment of Jane's adventures. So, even if you just stumbled upon this story, or if you've been following along since the beginning, or if you're familiar with my other works and not just those of this site, please please PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment/review. Or even just PM me. Because knowing I have an audience will make me so much more passionate about this story.**

3


	9. Crystalline Green

:

Jane had seen the Riddlermobile on the news and, with it's ostentatious crazed coloring and eccentric design, Edward's car currently was nothing like it. The car he led Jane to in the parking lot was a black four door Ford. She didn't know the make, but it was relatively new and kept completely clean. _Must be his OCD, _she thought to herself quietly as she slid in the passenger side. Wordlessly, Edward started the vehicle up and slid the manual into reverse to back out of the space and head out into the traffic.

The car ride was a silent one. Jane kept glancing nervously over at Edward, slightly nervous at being completely alone with him. To be honest, she hadn't thought this far ahead. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to leave with him and it served dual purposes. Firstly, Jane would be able to keep an eye on him. She wasn't sure what exactly she was looking for, but there was a part of her that was determined to make sure he was a good business partner for Dan. It was overprotective, but it was also incredibly stupid and she knew that. He was a criminal. At large. A crazy, psychopathic murderer bent on either world domination or world submission. Of course he was a bad influence on Dan, he was a bad influence on everyone he met!

Then there was the part of her that she kept trying to reason away. The part that suggested quietly that maybe, just maybe, she had a crush on this Riddler character and was using any excuse she could conjure up to stay around him. This thought made her uncomfortable, but it churned in her internally as well.

He was attractive (_and he knew it_). He was smart (_yeah, just ask him_) and he seemed like a decent person (_if you can get past the fact that he builds deathtraps to kill people and he's an infamous criminal). _Despite his infamy and psychotic behavior, however, Jane was swayed by the emotion he had appeared to affect when he had brought Dan to her apartment. Even now, he was planning on coming back that very night to bust him out of the hospital because he felt Dan had 'taken on for the team' and, try as she might, she just couldn't find anything in that situation that would be strictly for the Riddler's benefit. It seemed like he was just trying to do something genuinely helpful for an employee.

It was during these thoughts that Jane snuck another peek at Edward. He, too, looked deep in thought as he kept his eyes trained on the road. If he knew Jane was looking at him, he didn't show it, and she took this time to study him more intensely. He had an angular face, only accentuated by the black framed glasses. His forehead was high, and to one side of his hairline his auburn hair spiked up in that cal lick she found so charming, whereas the other side flopped over across his brow. His normally perpetually raised eyebrows were currently uncharacteristically drawn together as he was worrying something over in his mind presently, giving him a slightly perturbed look. His eyes were a deep dark green that Jane loved, and it went well with his choice of costume color. Edward's normally clean-shaven appearance was showing signs of dark stubble coming in on what was trying very hard to be a strong jaw-line. Jane wondered if he had shaved this morning before coming to the hospital and, if he hadn't, why not. Could it have been out of worry?

No, she didn't want to project.

Jane needed to know if the Riddler had any real feelings under that mask for anyone besides himself. Especially if she was to let herself begin to admit that she might be developing an attraction for him. She needed to know if he was even capable of mutual interest.

"You intrigue me," he stated matter-of-factly, eyes never leaving the road.

Jane was momentarily surprised out of her reverie at his words. It was almost as if he could tell what she was thinking. She cleared her throat lightly, trying to appear nonchalant. "Why is that?"

He looked over at her briefly, considering, before turning back to the task at hand. "That is difficult to say. Perhaps because you are something new. The people I normally involve myself with… they have particular personality traits that differ from yours."

Jane smirked and glanced out the window. "I'll take that as a compliment."

She meant it as a joke, but it only served to cause Riddler's frown to deepen. "I suppose I would, too, in your shoes. But then, I am not exactly in your shoes, now am I?"

It was the closest Jane had heard him come to feeling regretful over their differences. Normally he seemed so jovial, so heightened. Now he seemed almost…down on himself.

"What's got you in such a mood?" As if she could really say that, even. She'd known him for just over two days. To imply that she knew his regular moods already was out of the bounds of normal reason.

Riddler ignored the implausibility however and, scoffing, looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. "I have a lot on my mind. As usual," he said simply as if to a child.

Jane was silent once more, staring out the window. They seemed to be slowing down, still in the beaten-back part of Gotham. The part of the city where shit went down in alleys. Where people went missing. "Welcome to the Narrows," Edward gestured grandly out the window. He noticed Jane's slightly nervous expression and chuckled. "It may not look like much but I can guarantee you an absolutely fantastic time."

A few streets later they pulled up next to what looked like an abandoned warehouse. "Home, sweet, home." Riddler exited the vehicle and, without waiting for Jane to catch up, made his way up the walkway towards the door. Jane scrambled after him, trying to take note of her surroundings. She could smell water. A large body of it. Maybe one of the lakes? And there, what was that? In the distance she thought she could make out an inlet portion of beach. Yes. That's what it was, complete with gulls diving and wheeling into the sky. There were buildings between there and this warehouse, but she was comforted in the fact that she was close to water-for it had always been something she planned to look for when she left Glynn.

She tore her eyes from the shoreline and scanned for Riddler. He had just made it to the door and was punching in what looked to be a code on a keypad next to the door. Jane trotted after him, not wanting to miss an opportunity, and checked out the building as she neared it. It was rusted beyond belief, but below that rust she could see just the barest hint of aluminum siding. So it was newer. Most of the sheds around here that she had noticed were built with wood or plank. She'd even seen a few steel ones, but that would have been expensive and conspicuous if he had chosen there for his hideout.

Riddler had finished with the code just as Jane came to a halt next to him. He looked over at her with a wry expression and stepped away from the door. "A step back, if you please." Which she complied with instantly. She stared at the door, expectantly, waiting for it to slide open and reveal the rustiest, dirtiest place known to man, but several seconds passed and nothing happened.

Riddler sighed in aggravation and stepped forward again towards the keypad. "Wait here," he tossed over his shoulder. Jane was more than happy to oblige as she watched him punch the numbers in again (this time a little more forcefully, and muttering under his breath). He stabbed the 'Enter' key and turned back to join her, but almost before he could get there, the ground started sinking underneath her rapidly.

"Edward!" She gasped, and a horrified look flashed across his face as he dove after her, thumping to the ground beside her. They were surrounded on all sides by pitch black now, and there was an almost overpowering smell of earth and decay. She could still hear Riddler scrabbling about on the ground beside her, and then an excited "Ah! There you are!" before a dim purple light blinked on above them. It was then that she realized the movement of the earth beneath her was smooth and regulated, and that the earthen walls were held back by thick steel wire and support beams, lit with the same purple lighting all the way down like a landing strip. _It must be some kind of lift,_ the voice in her head reasoned with her in relief.

Riddler sprang up beside her, brushing his hair indignantly off of his forehead and straightening his glasses. "It appears I shall have to re-wire this particular entrance. It seems to have developed a bit of a glitch during my time in Double A."

"Arkham Asylum?" Jane gasped.

One side of Edward's mouth quirked up at her expression of interest and he quickly brushed the topic aside. "No matter, there will be plenty of time for that. In the meantime, _here_ is Home, Sweet, Home."

Suddenly there was a rush of air and Jane was hit with a wave of wooziness as the lift cleared the last of the dirt wall and track lighting to emerge and descend upon a green canopy of plants in the most massive room she had ever seen. It was a giant underground greenhouse, with a crazy high ceiling (had to be over 40 feet) lit all over with economy-friendly plant lights. Judging by the curvature of the walls to either side of her, and the general shape of the ceiling, Jane could tell that the room they had descended into looked to be a large circle, but she couldn't see clear to the other side of it due to the rapid descent of the lift and the enormity of plant-life between her and the opposite wall.

The trees and vines formed a sort of maze over the main area of the large room safe the wall portion directly next to her, where they were coming down by a modest old-style Victorian. It seemed so out of place in the dense underground forest (_also out of place_, her mind reminded her), but it was colored in dark greens and cedar reds and browns, also allowing it to blend with the surroundings perfectly. Riddler took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I do love the smell of pure oxygen. Clears the mind!" He glanced over at Jane and noticed she was leaning over, bracing herself with her hands on her knees. "Breathe slowly and less often. It gets easier as you get used to it. The worst part," he whispered conspiratorially, "is going back up top."

_So that's why I feel a little dizzy,_ Jane supplied herself. _All these trees… "_I didn't figure you for the outdoorsy type."

He shook his head and sighed. "I most definitely am _not_ an 'outdoorsy type.' All the plant life you see around you is an irritating side-effect of my current roommate, Pamela. "

"Pamela?"

"Pamela Isley," he intoned. "But you would do well to refer to her as Poison Ivy. It seems to be what she prefers. In regards to newcomers, anyway."

Just as the words escaped his mouth, the lift touched down on the dirt floor. Edward spun and stepped off the lift and started towards the Victorian. "This way unless you would rather spend the afternoon in the jungle."

Jane spared one last hesitant look around before following in his footsteps.


	10. All The World Is Green

:

When Jane stepped into the underground Victorian, the first thing she noticed was the décor. The entrance room was large and open, the floors were slate gray wood planks, the walls a matte black, and the high, two-story ceiling an eggshell white. There was a staircase to her left that followed the wall to a second floor, and then proceeded to wrap around the innards of the house like an inner balcony. Here and there from the ground floor, Jane could see doors leading off into various rooms above her, all coming out to join one another on that balcony. As for the room she was in, it appeared to be a joint parlor and living room, as she could see a set of black leather couches tastefully arranged around a glass coffee table off to her right. The left appeared to be a kitchen area, all black tile and white marble.

_Classy._ She thought to herself. In her head, even her thoughts sounded awed. Here and there the walls boasted of some form of art or another, generally copies of famous works. _How do you know they're copies? Maybe they're genuine and he just stole them all. _She rolled her eyes internally at her subconscious. _Shut up, maybe he paid for them. _Her subconscious raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her. _Yeah, maybe he paid for them all with money that he STOLE. _

Jane quickly shook that thought from her head and trailed after Riddler as he made his way farther into the building and into the living area. From here, Jane could see a long hallway off to the side with various doors leading to other rooms.

Edward did an about-face in front of the bigger of the two leather couches and leaned back, hovering in mid-air for a moment before gravity took over and brought him flopping unceremoniously onto the furniture. He tilted his head back and Jane watched as his hat fell back behind the couch. Riddler's eyes were closed and he looked considerably more…relaxed than she had ever seen him.

He must have felt her staring at him because his eyes flickered open and the corner of his mouth pulled up in a lopsided grin. "You are more than welcome to have a seat."

Jane chose the couch at a 90 degree angle to him and awkwardly perched on the edge of the cushion. Never in her wildest dreams would she have seen herself here a week ago. A week where she was desperately struggling to pound out a few measly words an hour on her monitor. She imagined now, if she were to write about her move to Gotham, and anything else that had happened in the last 48 hours, she could go on for pages and pages with no trouble.

Now here she was, not only in Gotham, but in the lair of a known criminal mastermind. A murderer, a thief; one of Gotham's infamous A-List criminals and she was sitting next to him like it was no big deal. Once again, she was shaken at how little all of this seemed to bother her.

_If I were a normal person, I'd have run screaming for the hills from the get go. Like, moment number one when I walked into Dan's apartment and….__**he**__ was there. _And he had been there. And from that very first moment, if she recalled correctly (which she almost always did when talking about feelings), she had felt something that was definitely not fear emanating from herself regarding the Riddler.

For his part, Edward was absolutely silent, seemingly deep into thoughts of his own at the moment. This bothered Jane. She desperately wanted some distraction to jar her thoughts off of the path they were currently taken as she was in her own inner turmoil. She wanted him to talk to her. She wanted to ask him questions.

"So…" She started, not having the least idea where she was going with her sentence. "Do you come here often?" Inwardly, she winced. Jane hoped that hadn't sounded as corny to him as it had to her.

Riddler's slightly curious look coupled with a raised eyebrow provided her all the insight she needed: it was corny to him as well. To her surprise, however, he chose to answer her question honestly. "Sometimes. I have other lairs but truth be told, I do prefer this one. It has a certain ambiance that I find…relaxing."

It was silent again for a moment, this time broken by the rogue. "Why is it that you're here, exactly?"

Jane was momentarily taken aback, but she quickly recovered. "Here in Gotham? Or here in your lair?"

"Both, I suppose."

"Dan asked me to come." It was the short answer; completely devoid of any personal preference. It totally avoided any of her feelings on the matter, which she liked. Also, she could tell it annoyed Edward.

"Why ever did you agree to something so silly?" He asked, raising his head and straightening his position a little.

Jane could tell she had his attention now. She supposed he must see her as some sort of puzzle to be solved. Clearly answering his questions vaguely wasn't going to help her. "I was bored back home. The atmosphere, the people, none of it ever changed. I mean, sure it's kinda nice when you're young and you know everybody in town and everyone knows you but…after awhile it just gets so _stale_… It got to the point where I couldn't work, and I couldn't _not _work…"

"That does indeed sound like a terrible place to be." They shared a look before Riddler continued. "You know, I grew up in a small town myself. It's true," he allowed, acknowledging Jane's doubtful look. "Granted now I know my way around the city better than anyone, but before I came to Gotham I had a life very similar to your own. Of course, not filled with something as mundane as 'work'… But I do know how it is to watch the things around you stagnate. You did well to leave it behind, but I wonder if your choice of scenery wasn't slightly… ill-advised."

It was by far the longest she had ever heard Riddler speak and she had to admit to herself that she enjoyed it. Right now, Jane wanted nothing more than to keep this conversation going so she could find out more about him. "Why did you decide to become the Riddler?" He gazed at her blankly then, and Jane wondered for a moment if she had gone too far.

"Why do you write? I suppose it was always in me to be what I am."

"But you didn't always dress up in green suits and twirl question marked canes around, did you?"

He smirked slightly and shook his head. "No, most assuredly not. Like all life-changing revelations one makes about oneself, it required a certain catalyst." Seeing her questioning stare, he continued bluntly. "I was fired from my job."

Deciding not to press the issue, Jane fell silent again. All the questions in her head now were about more personal things. _What job? Where did you work? Why were you fired? Do you ever regret it? Are you going to kill me?_ All these things rattling around in her head, she was glad Riddler was the one to break the silence again.

"Jane, tell me something. With a friend such as yours…Daniel… he seems to be so eager to join the ranks of Gotham's…less desirables. You seem nothing like him… I was just wondering what it is between the two of you. Unless there is some other part to you that I'm not seeing, which is highly unlikely."

Ignoring the pomposity of that statement, Jane merely shrugged. "Dan's…Dan. He's a little too adventurous for his own good. But if you're asking if I'm the same way… I don't know." Riddler's skeptical glance kept her talking. "I mean, if you'd asked me three days ago the same question I would have said 'no way, I don't do illegal things.' But now… I don't know. I suppose I could. If I were asked." It was the closest she could bring herself to flirting with the rogue, and even with something so small as that she was highly embarrassed. To his credit, Riddler didn't even acknowledge the awkward ploy, much to Jane's relief.

"I find you intoxicatingly attractive."

Her head snapped up and she stared at him with her mouth agape. "I'm sorry?"

Riddler cleared his throat and sat the rest of the way upright, leaning a little towards her, elbows on his knees. "I said I find you intoxicatingly attractive. Of course, not at this very instant with your mouth hanging open like that, but the rest of the time you really are quite beautiful."

Jane closed her mouth with a snap. "Um…thank you."

Undaunted, Edward continued. "Not at all, it actually benefits me. I have a proposition for you if you are interested."

"What is it?"_ I find you intoxicatingly attractive as well!_

"There is a gala being held by Bruce Wayne-I'm assuming you have heard of Bruce Wayne, yes?" At a slightly disappointed nod from Jane (which Riddler either failed to catch or ignored) he continued. "The gala is an annual event and the guest list is always quite impressive. I need you to get on that guest list."

Jane's eyes nearly bugged out of her head at this. "Wait, what? How am I going to do that? I don't have money, certainly not enough to impress Bruce Wayne! And I don't know anybody in town!"

"You won't be needing money. The plan is to tell Bruce Wayne you are a reporter covering the event. I can provide you with the proper credentials, but I need to know if you are willing and capable of doing this."

Jane thought long and hard for a moment. "What would I need to do?"

"Get me inside there, and then get yourself out. It will be a simple job, quickly and, with my intellect, flawlessly executed. Your part is very small. Will you do it?"

It was a difficult decision. Jane knew once she started down this road there would be no turning back. She would never be able to eat in the coffee shop in broad daylight again. No more browsing at the public library without looking over her shoulder…

But the sense of adventure was too much for her to pass up.

"I'll do it."

**AN: Omg…what is this?! A plot?! What's that doing here?! Sorry it took so long for the update, guys. I worked 12 days in a row, no day off. It was brutal. Anyway, thanks for being such patient little readers (and reviewers! That made me ecstatic!) I really do love writing Riddler, he practically writes himself!**


	11. I'm Your Villain

:

AN: **Sorry guys! So much has been going on lately, most of which has really been work, work, work. I won't bore you with the details of something you didn't come here to read, however, so….apologies aside, here's a chapter!**

After her rash agreement to take part in whatever scheme Riddler was planning, Jane was overcome with a dizzying rush of adrenaline. Part of her brain was screaming _What the *%# are you __**doing?!**_While the other part of her brain was off in a corner rubbing its hands together in anticipation. All of her life Jane had been a studious, quiet, non-aggressive person and she had the feeling now that she was about to watch all of that crumble into dust.

Here she was-sitting on the couch of The Riddler-discussing plots for him to do God Knows What (the very _least _involving robbery) to God Knows Who (aside from Bruce Wayne) at an outrageously public event that would not only be televised for the people that _weren't _there but would also be boasting very imposing and influencing citizens of Gotham City… people that used words like 'fiscal' and 'immanent' and 'national security' on a daily basis. People what would chew her up and spit her out without so much as a second thought. People that could very well ruin her entire life before Sunday breakfast and forget about it before they headed off to church.

"_I'll do it", _her brain mimicked her._ What the fuck are you doing, exactly?_ The rational part of her brain was still desperately trying to talk some sense into the rest of her. _Helping Edward. _The non-rational part mentally shrugged like it was the most basic concept in the world and left no other choice. This further infuriated Rationality, of course, who responded with an equal amount of blatant condescension. _And who is he to you? Some criminal who got the shit kicked out of your best friend. He's cute, sure, I'll give him that, and he definitely knows how to turn on the charm, but can you honestly believe that he isn't just some twisted sociopath who is going to use you and drop you like the nobody you are the moment he gets what he wants? _Oh. That was pretty comprehensive.

With that thought in mind, Jane's eyes shot up to the eerily normal looking rogue still sitting adjacent to her on the couch. He was hunched over with his elbows on his knees and his chin resting on one hand. The sleeves of his dress shirt were partially rolled up to his forearms and his tie was loose, top shirt button undone. He had a far off look in his eyes and Jane was confident he was tightening the plans for the gala. Looking at him, there was nothing Jane wanted more to do than hear him say he found her 'intoxicatingly attractive' again. However, her thoughts kept coming back to what her brain was telling her. Even if that had been the nicest, most courteously flirtatious, most suave, most complimentary (coming from him) thing anyone had ever said to her…"Edward."

His eyes slipped back into focus and he averted his eyes to her. "Yes?"

"Why do you need my help?"

He appraised her for a moment, perhaps deciding the best way to say what he was thinking. _Maybe he's trying to think of what he can say that will make me want to help him._ There was her rationality again. In all actuality, Jane needed to know what it was that she had that he needed. She felt like the knowledge was some sort of…well maybe protection from him. If she knew what he wanted, was able to put her finger on it, then maybe she wouldn't be so hurt if (_when_) he kicked her to the curb when all was said and done.

"I suppose I really don't need your help at all." He mused. "I have attended many of Bruce Wayne's affairs with no invitation. I suppose this time could be no different. A little more dramatic, perhaps, but then," he flashed a devious smile, "I like dramatic."

Um. That hadn't been what she was expecting. "If you don't need my help…" Jane started, not really sure how she was going to express what was on her mind. What was she even looking for from him? Reassurance? Was she really expecting reassurance from the Prince of Puzzles? Her rational brain was screaming at her, begging her to tell it what part of 'murderer' or 'criminal' she didn't understand.

"Jane, if you don't wish to be a part of this particular venture, by all means, just say you don't want to do it."

"No, that's not it!" She hastily amended. "I _do _want to do it, I just… wanted to know why you bothered to ask me since I know someone like _you_ doesn't really _need_ someone like _me_ to help you with…something like this," she finished lamely.

Riddler glanced back over to her, and she could tell he was both prideful of the compliment and amused at her awkward explanation. "No, I don't need you. But as I mentioned before, you intrigue me. It may be that I am eager to see how you respond in a situation like this."

So it was an experiment. Somehow, Jane was relieved. I mean, he wasn't exactly down on his knees telling her he loved her and wanted her by his side (a thought which sent unbidden but not unwelcome tingles down into her stomach) but he wasn't dismissing her either. Something she had either done or said had caught his attention.

It was silent a few moments more before Jane remembered what it was they were going to be doing that night, and why she had bothered to come back to the Riddler's lair. "About Dan…" she started, earning herself a long-suffering look from Edward.

"If you are about to tell me once again that you are going to keep me from taking him out of the hospital, I must reiterate that the point is completely moot, as that is precisely what I will be doing. I need him for something I have been planning for quite awhile now and it would take entirely too long to train someone new."

"No, no, it's not that. I was just wondering how you were planning to do it."

Riddler looked at her wearily for a moment before blinking. His eyes were only closed for a fraction of a second, but when they reopened, there was a spark of amusement there. "It isn't exactly a prison, Jane. It's a hospital. It won't be difficult in the slightest. We will walk in, make our way to Daniel's room, unhook him, and walk back out-simple as that."

"And what if they try to stop us?" Jane was irritated with the hint of nervousness she heard in her voice, but Edward just scoffed.

"And what if they do?" He intoned. "If anyone makes any sort of move to restrain us it will more than likely be some washed out Rent-A-Cop reminiscent of glory days gone by that takes his job too seriously and he will point his flashlight at us in what I'm _sure_ he will consider to be a threatening pose and he'll say 'Stop'. We, on the other hand, will of course continue to walk out the doors and to the car, we will start said car and drive away."

"What if he has a gun?"

"In a hospital?"

"Just playing Devil's Advocate."

Edward was silent a moment, looking at her curiously. He rose from the couch and closed the distance between them until he was standing in front of her looking down. "Okay. If he has a gun, he'll point it at us, but he most definitely will not fire it. It will be the same scenario but with a firearm instead of a flashlight."

"What if he fires it?"

Once again, Jane was sent a slightly annoyed look, and she began to enjoy the feeling that she was irritating a super villain. Riddler knelt down in front of her and she felt the smirk fade slowly. His gaze flicked down to her lips before meeting her eyes in a piercing gaze.

"If he fires it, he will more than likely miss. You know, Jane," He continued without waiting for her to interrupt again, "I like that you are so inquisitive. Granted your questions aren't the most thought-provoking, at least I know you're trying."

For a moment Jane asked herself if that was even supposed to be a compliment. "Thanks. I think."

Emboldened, Edward leaned forward microscopically, his face just inches from hers. "I also like that you're not afraid of me."

Jane could have told him that the reason she wasn't afraid of him was because he was not threatening. She could have said she found him charming instead of volatile, imaginative instead of malicious… she actually opened her mouth to tell him that she respected that, despite the fact that he thought everyone on Earth was a helpless babbling idiot, he was still able to scrounge together a modicum of panache when speaking with them. She would have probably said all of those things if Edward hadn't closed the gap between them and covered her lips with his own in a thought-muddling kiss.

Jane's eyes fluttered shut as Edward entangled one of his hands into her hair and leaned closer still into her. She could feel her arm drift up of its own accord and lightly brush against his cheek.

It was over far too soon as Edward pulled back. Jane reluctantly opened her eyes again and looked at him questioningly.

"Forgive me." He whispered simply, sending tingles up and down her spine. "I'm not sure now is the right time but…I couldn't help myself." With that, he stood and made his way over to the large picture window that overlooked the inside-outdoors. "Besides, it wouldn't do for you to be caught up with someone like me," he muttered to himself.

Jane followed him with her eyes. She could tell he was deep in thought, as was she. Her thoughts revolved mainly around how she should act around him now. Would there be more of that? She only hoped his thoughts weren't ones of regret.

Briskly, Riddler turned back around to face her, hands clasped behind his back. "It's getting late. We should go collect our dearest Daniel."

**AN: So, I hope it was worth the wait. I'll try really, really hard to give you guys the romance you deserve but I've got to warn you, I'm an absolute stick when it comes to writing love scenes. Aside from that, I realized recently that I've never posted a disclaimer for this story, so here it is!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not, nor have I ever owned Edward Nygma/ The Riddler. As much as I would enjoy it, I have a feeling that he would not in the slightest. **


	12. Want More

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It was a silent drive to the hospital as both occupants of Edward's car were deeply involved with their own thoughts. Edward, for his part, was thinking about the kiss he had given Jane. He felt his eyes slide unbidden in her direction.

She was leaning back against the passenger side chair with her arm on the window sill. She looked deeply consumed and for the moment he was glad she couldn't see him staring at her. He wondered if she had enjoyed it like he had. Granted, it had been so long since Edward had had….relations….with a woman (or man, for that matter) that he would have probably enjoyed kissing just about anyone. But then, that was just it, he hadn't _wanted_ to kiss anyone in all that time. Sure there had been the odd hench girl that had stricken his fancy, but once he got past the attractive exterior, time and time again he had found nothing underneath. Not to say Jane was exceptionally smart-not compared to him, at least-but compared to most people, he supposed he could give her some credit. Even for him to say that much was more of a compliment than anyone had ever received from him, provided you weren't Batman.

For her part, Jane was trying very hard to continue staring out the window, even as she felt Edward's eyes on her. Part of her wanted nothing more than to turn and face him and catch him in the act, but after he had kissed her and then pretended nothing happened, she was determined to do the same. The ball, as far as she was concerned was still in his court. You don't kiss someone and then pretend it never occurred! It's not just _business as usual_ after something like that! Expectations are formed!

The scenery was not interesting at all and Jane didn't know how much longer she could mindlessly stare out at it without inadvertently drawing suspicion on herself.

Luckily, Edward chose that moment to break the silence.

"Are you alright?"

Jane almost smacked him directly in the face. If she had been the one driving, she would have slammed on the breaks. He expected her to be alright? For everything to be fine? Her to just carry on like he was? Well if he expected those things, he was in for a rude surprise.

"Nope."

This took Edward by surprise. Was she hurt? Headache maybe? Unless… "Are you angry with me?"

"Yep."

Unless she was angry with him for… "For kissing you?" Of course that was it. She had every right to be angry with him for that. He hadn't asked her, hadn't taken her to dinner, given her no indication he was interested. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He had told her he found her attractive. That must be it. Perhaps she was high maintenance and expected more out of a courtship than just a peck here and there. _Whoa, whoa, whoa. Courtship? Who said anything about courting her?_

"Nope."

Her answer came as a surprise, both interrupting his internal thought process and effectively throwing him for a loop. She wasn't mad about the kiss? Then what? Eddie was starting to get frustrated at the lack of knowledge he was feeling. "For coming back for Dan?"

"Oh. That too."

This time, Edward couldn't stop the sigh that fought its way out of his throat, causing Jane an inward smile.

"What, then?"

Jane looked at him blankly and spoke very slowly, as if to a small child. "You kissed me."

"I did. And you just said you weren't mad about it!"

"It's not _that_, Edward." A small chill went through him when he heard his name on her lips. "After, you just pretended nothing had happened. I don't know what kind of girls you're used to dealing with, but out in the real world we don't just go around kissing people willy nilly!" She threw her hands up in a wild gesture before allowing them to fall limply back onto her lap.

Riddler couldn't help but notice how seemingly upset she was about such a casual kiss. Unless she had wanted him to kiss her? And she was hurt because she thought he didn't feel the same way. Suddenly it became clear to him. She was offended! "I'm sorry, Jane. It's just…now it not a good time for me to be involved with anyone. There's always the chance that I won't be in the position to…uphold a fair part of the relationship. I couldn't put you in that position. I apologize if I gave you the wrong idea. I was weak. I had been wanting to kiss you for awhile now. I wasn't aware it would have affected you so strongly." He glanced from the road to her, and willed her to meet his gaze.

Grudgingly, she did and then flicked her eyes down to her hands folded in her lap. "Well, when you put it that way, I feel pretty stupid."

"Don't feel stupid, it was my error."

"Let's just get Dan."

Edward started at her a moment longer and then turned his eyes back to the road.

A few more minutes of driving and they were pulling into the parking lot of the hospital.

Edward hopped out of the car on his side while Jane did the same on hers. They met at the back of the car and started towards the admittance doors in silence.

The automatic motion-censored doors _whooshed_ open and they passed through, striding through the hallways until they reached Dan's room. Edward rapped on the door sharply with the back of his knuckles. He didn't wait for the go ahead before he swung the door open. There, in the middle of the room, Dan was standing fully dressed in street clothes and with a bag slung over his shoulder.

"Great timing, guys. Let's blow this popcorn stand."

He strode between and slightly behind the two jail breakers as they made their way back down the hallways. The entire scene passed with little to no interference. The only run-in (if you could even call it that) was when a nurse looked at the trio suspiciously before she moved on to change the sheets in a newly vacated room.

It was only when they were safely in the car that Jane let out the breath she had been holding since the doors.

They drove in silence the entire way home, Jane and Edward feeling slightly awkward after what had transpired, and Dan feeling awkward because of their rather tangible awkwardness.

When they arrived at Edward's lair, they took the lift down into the depths and trooped into Eddie's house. He was gone from their view for only a moment before returning with a rolled up blueprint and some notepads with notes on them. "Okay, let's go over this gala plan. The first thing we're going to need to do is get you, Jane, invited. For that, you're going to need to be introduced to Bruce Wayne. Never fear, I have just the idea.

**AN: Sorry it's such a short chapter. I just wanted to tide you guys over until the next chapter when the stuff really starts to pick up.**

**REVIEW ME and tell me what you'd like to see. I've got a pretty decent plan for this fic, but if there's something you think you'd like to happen, I'll do what I can to work it in. Just let me know. After all, I'm writing for you guys anyway!**


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